6 Signs You Are Sabotaging Your Future

You are not your failure but your actions are either getting you closer to your dreams and making you a better person or sabotaging your future. These are the frequent signs that you are sabotaging yourself. The good news is, it’s not too late to get on the right track. You can overcome these road blocks if you put your mind to it and take actionable steps to get better at what you do.

1. You lack focus. Your lack of focus could be costing you your short and long term goals. Distraction is a common problem we all face on daily basis. You set out to do one thing and before you know it, you are doing something else that isn’t productive. It’s not easy to stay focused on important tasks when there are lots of distractions around you all the time.

You check Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, your favourite blog and watch a few YouTube videos. Online distraction could take most of your time if not managed. Do you have a set of clear goals for your life and for your work? If you don’t, you will be tempted to try almost everything that sounds great to you in the mean time.

On the other hand, If you have “too many things to do and not enough time to do them”, you may feel rather anxious and depressed about life most of the time. Set clear, measurable and attainable goals, and focus on achieving them in a specific time. The next time you need to stay focused, get rid of your distractions and create time for everything that needs to be done.

2. You are isolated. Whatever your goals, and ambitions in life, you need the help of other experienced professionals along the way. If you are isolated from your specific industry, you could miss out on a lot opportunities. You can get closer to your goals faster with the right network. Start connecting with the right people who can help advance your personal growth.

Subscribe to influencer blogs in your industry, follow market experts on Twitter, read industry blogs, attend relevant and specific events, reach out to professionals and experts and arrange a meet up if you can. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Make that connection today and get closer to your dream career.

3. You are failing to plan. If you don’t have a plan, you are already on your way to failure.The reality of our busy, multitasking lives is that if it doesn’t get scheduled, it doesn’t get done. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish today, tomorrow, next week or next month, you are planning to fail.

You can easily overcome this form of self-sabotage by recognising the need to plan ahead and making sure that your goals get into your schedules and therefore not allowing yourself the option to fail.

4. You allow your past achievements to get in your way. At some point in your life, you may have achieved something significant worth talking about. You may have even written about it and most people know because of that accomplishment. That’s past tense and you’ve to move on. Don’t lie to yourself and get complacent. You can do a lot more than you think. Your accomplishments from yesterday are past and gone. What have you done today?

5. You focus on your failures. Don’t fear to fail. The number of times people fail is the difference between those who succeed in life and those who fail to accomplish their goals. Most successful people today have failed countless times in the past but they don’t allow their failures to get in the way of their long-term goals.

Successful people have many more failures in their lives because it’s the risks and the failed attempts that eventually lead to the knowledge, skills and opportunities that create success. The next time you experience a setback or failure, don’t allow your concept of failing to sabotage your efforts. Shift your perspective and decide to see the lessons in your experience. Failure lessons are positive—they provide information and the necessary feedback to improve and course-correct.

6. You give up too easily. Don’t give up just yet. There are too many ambitions that crushed because people just quit at a time when they were so close but thought they couldn’t go on again. Hang in there for a little while and you will be amazed at what happens. How many times have you tried something and you quit as soon as it became hard?

How many times have you postponed taking action till later, because you did not feel like doing it right away? ”Don’t keep telling yourself you can’t do it. The next time you hear those words, recall all those who heard the same words many times – but have succeeded against all odds. No matter how good your life currently is –it can still get better.

Founding Editor @Alltopstartups,
Contributor @Entrepreneur, Columnist @Inc. Magazine and Curator at Postanly (his free weekly digest of the best life and career improvement posts on the web. Subscribe for free.

2 COMMENTS

Thanks for writing this. Another significant point is, our lives are so busy and dynamic, that we need to keep coming back to these thoughts very frequently. This mind set is not a one time thing. To succeed, we need to come back to it, every single time.